Paddling tips, tricks, news and gear reviews from an Unsponsored point of view
Name: Ed Kingham
Location:
Currently studying in Swansea, but paddling more than studying at the moment. Predominantly surfing and playboating; but also sea kayaking, polo, flatwater racing and the odd section of whitewater. There is so much great paddling around here; it’s great to be able to go for a quick surf in the morning before uni.
I’ve been paddling for around ten years, although only seriously in the last few.
A couple of days back a SOL Emergency Bivvy landed at Unsponsored HQ. Essentially it is an alternative to the big orange plastic bivvy bags that most of us are familiar with. But it is much smaller and lighter.
It is certainly a very compact piece of gear when packed up. Size wise it probably is similar to half a regular sized can of your favourite soft drink beverage and weighs in at around 3.8oz. It is small enough to fit within a rescue PFD pocket.
Crossover kayaks are becoming more an more common with most manufacturers having developed designs over the last few years. The new Traverse from Jackson Kayak looks a little different from the other designs that are currently available.
We will have our hands on a new Palm Equipment Lightning throwbag very shortly and will be forcing members of Team Unsponsored to swim to try it out. We had close look a few weeks ago at Palm HQ and it is clear that they are going to be very popular.
A great edit from Brad McMillan out on the Green in the new 2016 Dagger Nomad.
I’m not sure which one I like more… The new Nomad or the Green at 2 units!
Spade Kayaks have released this nice little graphic detailing their three levels of outfitting for 2016.
My Ace of Spades is fitted with the full Pro spec outfitting.
Shane Benedict from Liquid Logic kayaks has recently uploaded a video from Lower Joe Creek.
There is one kayak on there that doesn’t look familiar. What do you reckon, could this be a new shorter creeker from Liquid Logic. A replacement for the Jefe or Stomper may be?
Last year we had a custom carbon pole made by our friends over at Vertical Element Paddles. Essentially we wanted a light weight and adjustable camera boom that would work with the GoPro range of cameras. VE came up with the goods.
The DMM Boa is one of the biggest locking carabiners available. It is billed as the ultimate rigging biner and is used by climbers and high rope access technicians. The Boa is super strong and super tough so this makes it ideal for paddling. I’ve had two types of Boa as shown below. They are the essentially the same in design and weight but have different locking systems. The one on the left has the traditional screw gate and the one on the right has a lock safe gate system.
North East Kayaks and Paddles had a visit from Wavesport today and they showed them the updated outfitting for the Diesel and the D-series of kayaks. They also brought along the kids Fuse 35 which is also now available.
The Diesel is still available with the Core Whiteout outfitting but now comes in a cheaper version called Blackout which looks pretty cool, it has ratchets in already and can have hip pads put in if required too!
How about a Custom Wavesport Recon that has been put together to match your 1973 Jeep.
David Maughan, product designer over at Confluence has done exactly that. I personally think that this looks awesome.
We have a Whetman Equipment Sea Kayak contact line in for review from Whetman Equipment. The system is designed to safely tether two kayaks together for short line contact rescue.
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